Olive Leaf Extract: An Herbal Powerhouse

 

Beyond the pandemic, we have our fair share of illness cut out for us in the months ahead. Colder weather means more time indoors. More time indoors means less air circulation and less sunlight. You know the drill. We’re trying to be optimistic here, but more often than not the winter months mean increased infection rates and more illness.

Of course there are plenty natural immune boosters, but few work as well as olive leaf. It’s use dates back thousands of years and it can help you fight infection, support cardiovascular health, support brain health, and more. It’s one of our top botanicals that we recommend all the time and on this week’s video we break down exactly what to look for in an olive leaf supplement.

Brian Strickland  00:07

Hey everyone, welcome back to Nutrition Made Simple a video series that we created that takes a look at ideas surrounding natural health topics. And then we break them down into easy to understand and actionable steps that pretty much anyone can take. And we're switching gears a little bit this month. Last month, we were talking about some back to school basics for kids how to boost immune system, healthy meals and all that good stuff. But for the month of September, we're actually going to be taking a look at several different herbs that are our absolute favorites. And herbs get overlooked a lot of the time, we've got a lot of great, great supplements, but the herbal is one that can get a little overwhelming pretty quickly. Because we've literally got a to z on that wall, there's there's a ton of options. But the first one up for this week is actually going to be something called olive leaf extract. And it's more or less, pretty much what it sounds like. But it actually has some really unique properties that we wanted to share with you today. So add just to dive right into it olive leaf dates back pretty far right there.There's some documented uses usages of it from even Ancient Egypt. 

Ed Jones  01:19

That is correct, Brian. And if you know if you know me at all, you know, I'm a connoisseur of learning about nutrition. But I will have to say if there's one herb that is my all time favorite, and personally probably use more than any other it would be olive leaf. And I want to tell you some of the reasons in a minute about that. But keep in mind 70% of the world still uses botanical medicine, that means more natural medicines in this country because of the heavy influence of more pharmaceutical options, which have some great benefits at times. But that has downplayed the botanical part. So very few of the health professionals today have any working knowledge of botanicals, they should because two reasons. There's relatively very safe and relatively very inexpensive. And they're used as natural medicines. That's what all of our great grandparents all the way back to the beginnings of time, used botanicals, herbs, and products that help them get through hard times with their health. Now, olive leaf. Like you said, Brian, as it dates back to the ancient Egypt and in the early 1800s, it was commonly given to people that had fevers and had sicknesses. And it was one of the most utilized herbs. Well, that continued on, but it kind of went out of favor somewhere around probably the 30s. I don't know why. And I'll tell you a personal story. Back in about 1990, a company called Solgar started producing olive leaf there was almost no olive leaf anywhere. And they started making it well. We had a I had a small store. It's actually in Brainerd Village for some of you old timers. And I started as I always do, I became the guinea pig. So I would try things to see how they worked on me. That's the best way for me to educate other people. Well, I found that every time I got I will call under the weather, you know, a cold or even a stomach ache or something happening that wasn't quite right just didn't feel quite right. Well, I started using this Solgar olive leaf. And without failure, if I used it quick enough with the right dose, I would feel better within a very short period of time. Instead of being down and out for four or five days. Usually it was one day. Well Nutrition World became the number one customer of Solgar's olive leaf we bought more than any store in the country. And this was when I didn't have a big store. Because I knew that it worked well back in those days. There was no internet. I couldn't go to PubMed. There wasn't any studies. So it was just anecdotally learning. Well, now it's risen to the top of the health experts who are into botanical medicine. So I want to tell people, if there's one single product that I never go out of town unless I bring it is olive leaf. It has pulled me out of the trenches so many times that I cannot count. And I want people to understand the power of good products in the world of herbal medicine because you said it right. There's so many herbs and it is confusing and the working knowledge today has lessened greatly because there was a lot of herbalist back in the 80s and 90s. They've lessened with time because of just the way the world has changed. I want to keep herbal herbal medicine going because of its value. And olive leaf isn't found in olive oil. I want to say that first because many people think well I drink olive oil so I get olive leaf because the thing in olive leaf that's active is a product called olioropin. And that's the active ingredient that in the studies have shown the ability to be antibacterial, anti parasitic, helps some people to have optimal levels of blood pressure. It always helps me with a stomach ache for some reason I can take it or if I have food poisoning, it has very powerful components that can take can be toxic to the bad guys, I guess. Have you ever taken olive leaf?

Brian Strickland  05:25

I've taken it on a couple of different occasions, once when I was feeling under the weather, that was one of the first things that I went to. And I think that was actually based on your recommendation. So it's not surprising. As far as, obviously, it has extensive immune benefits. And you mentioned, it can even maybe help with blood pressure. Are there other things that it's beneficial for as well?

Ed Jones  05:50

There's many. And the thing is even in memory, there was some studies done with olive leaf over an extended extended period of time with people with dementia and other memory loss. And it helped to lower inflammation within the brain. Well, that's part of what happens to all of us as we age, the demon with Father time is chronic inflammation. That's why we speak about it continually. It's also I really am invested in the blood test called high sensitivity c reactive protein. We do that here at Nutrition World. Every Tuesday, we do all the blood testing, but that one will tell the level of chronic inflammation. And when you have a high number, you do things to see what's going to work to lower that or you will age faster, and it will be a little less pretty sight as we age. But olive leaf, I want to say, to make sure we get it in, you have to look for a product that has a percentage of active ingredient, you can't just go out and purchase olive leaf, it needs to have at least 15% of this olioropen and the dosing of it preventatively is basically one pill a day in most cases, but therapeutically, which means if I'm not feeling my best is up to about 3000 milligrams, which is six capsules per day of most brands. But the key is starting early. If you wait three or four days and you got a cold coming on, you probably missed a window of opportunity. I also I did a physical Believe it or not Brian about two months ago, because I fly small airplanes being a pilot, I have to get a physical every other year right? To make sure that I had optimal levels of blood pressure. I started my olive leaf about two weeks before and I came in with a 120 for over 79 reading. I'm usually a little bit higher than that. But that's the only thing I did was olive leaf. So I'm a huge fan. I'm also not a fan of taking it every day. It's an herb that I like to keep in my cabinet. I do it for a reason. If I go back in the day when we flew in bigger planes who around all those people I would generally take it before I got on the airplane just preventatively but I also take it when I get my teeth cleaned. Because many times people who get their teeth clean including me I don't feel my best for a couple days because all the bacteria is freed up which is good thing. But in order for me to help myself with that, veiling I do olive leaf the day before the day of the day after never had another issue once I started that it has proven to me the power of good quality olive leaf extract.

Brian Strickland  08:25

It's crazy. Yeah, and you mentioned extract. Now obviously there are things like teas and I don't know if they do a tincture maybe even a liquid. I'm not sure if they do or not. But are those as beneficial? Do you get the same effect?

Ed Jones  08:38

I have never yet seen it that has a standardization for the active ingredient one, too. We do sell liquids that have the right ingredients. One of the worst tasting herbs probably that you could purchase, very few children would ever use it and most adults won't do it very long. So I recommend the capsules in almost all cases. It can give you in the wrong person like my daughter, she cannot take olive leaf on an empty stomach or in high doses or she gets a stomach ache. It also kills so much yeast that sometimes we have what we call yeast die off. And that's too many dead yeast cells and they basically kind of make it toxic for yourself. So we have to be a little cautious. But again, that's one of the good things about it if you do it appropriately. It is good to prevent a yeast overgrowth. In some cases, of course we're not treating any medical condition. If you have a medical issue you check with your doctor before taking olive leaf. But it is extremely safe for I mean PubMed. I looked at PubMed always before I do these things, amazing amounts of references across the board. In fact, they had a study of high school students in 2019 that were competitive athletes, they put them on olive leaf every day for eight weeks. And this was a very well done study. At the end of the eight weeks. The kids that did the olive leaf opposed to the placebo 28% reduction of sickness in that group that's pretty substantial to have a 28% reduction just from doing it. So it's a powerhouse. It's a it's a golden jewel in the world of botanical and natural medicine.

Brian Strickland  10:17

Yeah, for sure. Well, there you go, everyone that's botanical number one for the month of September all of leaf extract is as that said, a powerhouse. I mean, it's it's one of the the most recommended ones as far as as we go in the store. And it's definitely something that you could benefit from having in your cabinet. Well, that's it for this week. We hope this was helpful. Of course, if you ever have any questions, please feel free to reach out. We're always at always happy to help in any way that we can. We hope that you have a wonderful week, and we'll see you next time. Take care.

Ed Jones  10:50

Thank you.